Memories of Murder

In this episode, we dive into Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003), the haunting crime thriller based on South Korea’s first confirmed serial killings. We unpack how the film portrays the Hwaseong murders of the 1980s and early 1990s, what details were dramatized for the screen, and how the real investigation unfolded. From the frustrations of a police force unprepared for such crimes, to the decades-long mystery that finally, after the wrongful conviction of Yoon Sung-yeo, ended with the real killer’s confession in 2019. 

 Primary Sources:

• CNN (2020)
• CNN (2020)
• The Dankook Herald (2020)
• Catching a Killer: The Hwaseong Murders Part 1 (2021)
• Catching a Killer: The Hwaseong Murders Part 2 (2021)
• Channel News Asia (2021)
• Ranker (2022)
• The Korea Herald (2023)

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X: x.com/CriminalAdapt

Theme: DARKNESS (feat. EdKara) by Ghost148

Episode Transcript

Ashley (00:08):
Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we
take a look at some of yourfavorite movies and the true
crime stories that inspired them.
I'm Ashley.
I'm a clinical psychologist andforensic evaluator in the state
of Oregon.

Remi (00:21):
And I'm Remy.
I spent over a decade workingin the film and television
industry in Los Angeles,California.

Ashley (00:28):
Good morning everyone.
Welcome back to anotherthrilling episode of Criminal
Adaptations.
Thank you so much for tuning inand we just cannot wait to get
into this episode.
But before we do, remy, how areyou doing?

Remi (00:43):
I am doing A-OK, just getting ready for the Halloween
holiday coming up in a few weeks, but today we will be
discussing the Bong Joon-ho filmMemories of Murder, which was
inspired by the real-life serialkillings of Lee Chun-ja.
Now we just want to warneveryone, before we get started
here, that this episode willcontain discussions of topics

(01:08):
which may be disturbing to somelisteners, including sexual
assault and graphic details ofserial murders, so listener
discretion is strongly advisedfor this one.

Ashley (01:20):
We'll also be referencing quite a few Korean
names and locations throughoutthis episode.
We've done our best to get thepronunciations right, but if we
slip up here and there, justknow it's completely
unintentional and we doapologize in advance.

Remi (01:35):
And this week we will be diving into our first foreign
film, specifically our firstKorean film, and I know that
I've introduced you to quite afew Korean films during our time
together.
Ashley and I have a number offavorites myself, including
Train to Busan I Saw the DevilOld Boy and, of course, parasite

(01:56):
, which is directed by the manwe will be discussing today.

Ashley (02:00):
Parasite is my favorite Korean film that I've ever seen.
It is great.
We're actually working our waythrough the New York Times list
of the 100 best movies of thepast 25 years, and Parasite is
number one.
This one is also on the list,coming in at 99.
So this director is a force tobe reckoned with.

Remi (02:22):
I am a big fan of this director, as well as other
Korean directors, like ParkChan-wook, who did the Vengeance
trilogy, which was Old Boy,sympathy for Mr Vengeance and
Lady Vengeance, and he alsodirected Thirst, and has worked
with the actor who stars in thisfilm a few times as well.
But today we are discussingBong Joon-ho, who is primarily

(02:46):
known for two types of filmssci-fi films or psychological
dramas that are some sort ofsocial commentary on inequality
and corruption.
His other movies areSnowpiercer, the Host, okja and
the latest one, which came outin 2025, mickey 17.

(03:07):
And I think it's safe to saythat those movies and Parasite
and Memories of a Murder arevery, very different films, and
I personally love all of hismovies, but I do prefer it when
he does the more psychological,thriller type movie.

Ashley (03:25):
Yeah, I've seen all of those.
Okja is one that is a realstandout in my eyes.
It's such a good movie.
It is a tough watch.
I actually liked Mickey 17.
I know it kind of got mixedreviews, but I enjoyed it.
I thought it was fun, andseeing Robert Pattinson play two
different people was really ajoy and he just did such a good

(03:47):
job.
He is one actor that I'm justso glad got out of the Twilight
box and is just reallyimpressive in my eyes.

Remi (03:57):
And this film that we're discussing stars probably my
favorite Korean actor of alltime, song Kang-ho, who starred
in Thirst, which I mentionedearlier, and is the star of
Parasite, which I think he isthe most recognized for, at
least here in the States.
He was also in a film called ATaxi Driver in 2017, which was

(04:18):
amazing, and, of course, theother Bong films, snowpiercer
and Host, and he is incredible,and I think it is insane that he
was not nominated for BestActor for Parasite.

Ashley (04:30):
He's also in this other movie that has been on our list.
I don't know why we haven'twatched it yet.
It's called Broker.
It came out in 2022.
And I believe it's aboutundercover illegal adoptions.
It's listed or cited as adramedy, so it's definitely one
that we have to check outsometime soon.

(04:52):
I've been interested in it fora while because of this actor.

Remi (04:56):
All of his films, even if they are dealing with really
serious subject matter, healways adds a hint of comedy to
his performance, which I thinkis brilliant, because he never
really goes over the line to betoo comedic or too silly.
It's always very grounded andrelatable.
And while we're on the subjectof Parasite, I just want to let

(05:17):
our listeners know that we willin the future have an episode
diving into the death of LeeSon-kyun, who was one of the
other leads in Parasite.
He was the rich father in thefilm and he had a very tragic
end to his life and we plan ongoing into more details of that
in a future episode.

Ashley (05:38):
Well, I think that is a really good segue.
Let's get into Memories ofMurder.

Remi (06:08):
Memories of Murder is a 2003 South Korean neo-noir crime
thriller directed by BongJoon-ho, co-written by Shim
Song-bo and based in part on the1996 stage play Come to See Me
by Kim Kwang-lim.
The film stars Song Kang-ho andKim Sang-kyung.
The film stars Song Kang-ho andKim Sang-kyung.
Though inspired by thereal-life Hwasong serial murders

(06:29):
of the 1980s, Bong credited KimGwang-rim's play as essential
to shaping the film's structure,later saying If it weren't for
Kim Gwang-rim's play, I wouldhave had a lot of problems
establishing the structure.
Bong also drew stylisticinspiration from Alan Moore and
Eddie Campbell's graphic novelFrom Hell, which we will be

(06:52):
covering next season, and it's abrilliant novel I recommend for
anyone who has not read FromHell.
Work on the script began inJune of 2000 and took about a
year to complete.
Bong recalled For the first sixmonths I didn't write a line of
the script, I just did research, which is the way to go with a

(07:13):
story like this.
Two years later, on September 9,2002, Bong held a press
conference in Seoul's KumboMuseum of Art to announce the
start of filming, whileemphasizing that the film's
subject matter would be handledwith care.
Bong additionally avoidedfilming in Hweseong, itself
sensitive to the fact that manyof the victims' families were

(07:35):
still alive at the time.
This would also mark Bong'ssecond feature film, coming
after the domestic box officefailure of Barking Dogs Never
Bite, which he had called anenumeration of personal
interests.
Bong described his motivationfor making memories of murder as
both artistic and personal.

(07:55):
As a fan of detective fiction,he wanted to capture the horror
that has not yet been revealed,through the emotions evoked by
the clash of scenic landscapesand grotesque corpses.
He has quite the way with words.

Ashley (08:10):
Yeah, he should have gone on to be a writer.
Well, I guess he co-writes alot of his movies or writes them
, so in a way he did.

Remi (08:17):
Memories of Murder also marked the first collaboration
between Bong Joon-ho and SongKang-ho, who would go on to make
three more films togetherincluding the Host, snowpiercer
and, of course, parasite.

Guillermo del Toro (08:35):
So from the very beginning I knew that he
was the only actor who couldplay that role.

Bong Joon Ho (08:38):
So I wrote the script with him in mind.
He was the only person whocould represent that role, so I
wrote the script with him inmind.
He was the only person whocould represent the face of
Korea of the 80s and also he hasthis animalistic instinct for
comedy, so he's an actor who hadit all.

Ashley (08:56):
We talk a lot about actor-director relationships and
muses in this podcast, andthese two definitely seem to be
that for South Korea 100% agreedand they do their best work
together For authenticity.

Remi (09:13):
Actor Kim Sang-kyung, who plays Detective Seo in the film,
deliberately restricted hissleep and food intake in order
to make his character appearmore worn down by the stress of
the investigation.
In order to make his characterappear more worn down by the
stress of the investigation,filming took place in South Jola
Province, with the Reed Fieldscenes being shot in Hainan
County and the tunnel sequencesfilmed at the Jokbong Tunnel in

(09:37):
Jinju.
For the film's score, theproduction initially sought out
several well-known Japanesecomposers until ultimately
partnering with Taro Irashiro.
Bong and Irashiro went on tohave two 10-hour meetings
together, working to craft ascore that wouldn't overwhelm
the imagery resulting in rhythmsBong has described as almost

(09:59):
connected, yet almostdisconnected.

Ashley (10:03):
I'm excited to hear what they ended up with.

Remi (10:06):
Well, let's get into Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder.
Our story begins in 1986 in theKorean countryside, with a
small boy wandering through areed field collecting crickets

(10:29):
in a jar.
Approaching from the distance,a group of young children follow
playfully behind a slow-movingtractor carrying Detective Park
Doo-man, played by Song Kang-ho.
The detective soon arrives at adrainage ditch along the
roadside where he is led to thelifeless body of a bound woman,
covered in small insects,concealed within one of the

(10:50):
covered sections.
Side note here the bugscovering the woman's corpse in
this scene were all addeddigitally during post-production
, which is kind of neat.
I wouldn't have noticed it.

Ashley (11:00):
Well, and that's good for the actress that probably
played that person.

Remi (11:04):
Yes, I'm sure she was very relieved as well.
As Detective Park begins hisinvestigation, the curious
children drift closer anddiscover scraps of the woman's
clothing discarded in the reedfield, which they then begin to
play around with.
Annoyed.
Park scolds the children fortampering with evidence, only to
be mocked in return by thecricket boy who mimics his

(11:25):
gestures, befuddling thedetective.
We then cut to Detective Park,conducting interviews with
several male suspects, all ofwhom had some prior connection
to the murdered woman.
The police station itself feelscluttered, cramped and woefully
underfunded as we watch Parktype out his reports on a

(11:45):
rickety old typewriter and takephotos of each suspect using a
cheap handheld camera.
Later that day, park returns tothe crime scene only to find
that the area has not been ropedoff and the forensic teams
still have not arrived yet.
As a result, the entire crimescene has been overrun with
curious villagers and reporterswandering freely and

(12:07):
contaminating any potentialevidence.
Though Park does discover apartial footprint preserved in
the muddy ground, which he isable to snap a quick photo of,
it is quickly run over by anoblivious farmer passing by on
his tractor as Park watches inutter disbelief at the sheer
level of incompetence all aroundhim In the days that follow,

(12:29):
park meticulously analyzes eachand every photograph he had
taken of potential suspects,searching for any hidden details
that he may have missedoriginally.
Park's tactics are mocked by hiscolleague though, sergeant Ko
Hee-bong, played by ByunHee-bong, who suggests that Park
might as well become a fortuneteller if he thinks that staring

(12:49):
at pictures will lead tosolving the case.
To prove his point, ku gesturestowards two men brought into
the station that day, one arapist and the other the
victim's brother, thenchallenges Park to guess which
is which, based purely on theirappearance.
Side note here this scene endsbefore the truth behind Ko's
question is ever revealed, butaccording to the director, the

(13:11):
answer was never even decided.
So not even Bong Joon-ho knewthe answer to the question.
We next cut to Detective Park ina dimly lit brothel, in bed
with a prostitute named KwokSeol Young, played by John Mi
Son.
Side note here some audiencemistook this character of Kwok
Seol Young as being DetectivePark's wife, since their scenes

(13:35):
together take place in anintimate, home-like setting,
which I can understand.
I probably would have thoughtthe same thing if I didn't know
this before watching the film.
After having sex, she givesPark a flu shot and fusses over
him like a caring mother tendingto her child.

Ashley (13:51):
Wait, wait, wait.
So sex workers in South Koreain the 1980s could also just
give flu shots.

Remi (13:59):
She also cleans out his ears afterwards with like a
little Q-tip.
So, yeah, he's getting the fulltreatment here Flu shot,
getting his ears cleaned and sex.
It's a one-stop shop Exactly,Though I question the reality of
this sort of thing.
While fussing over Park, shecasually shares gossip about the

(14:19):
Beak family, and morespecifically their son, Guang Ho
, whom she says had a bit of ahabit of stalking the murdered
woman and had even been spottedby a neighbor doing so on the
night of her death.
After tracking down Guang Ho,played by Park No-Shik, he is
brought back to the policestation to be interrogated down

(14:39):
in the basement.
It soon becomes abundantlyclear that Guang Ho is mentally
challenged, yet Parknevertheless attempts to coax a
confession from him, despiteGuanghou being unable to fully
grasp the severity of thesituation at hand.
Before long, Park is joined byDetective Cho, played by Kim

(15:00):
Ro-Ha, who storms into the room,kicks Guanghou in the chest,
then calls him ugly.

Ashley (15:05):
Aww, why'd you have to throw in a comment about his
looks, dude.

Remi (15:09):
This Cho character is a menace.
He basically dropkicks everysingle suspect in the film.
It's crazy.
I've never seen anything likeit in a detective movie.

Ashley (15:20):
The detectives in this case did later get in a bit of
trouble for using unconventionaland abusive investigation
tactics to try to coaxconfessions out of people, and
it ruined several men's livesethics that occur with the

(15:42):
police in this film, but we'llget more into that in just a
moment.

Remi (15:52):
We then cut to a lone woman walking down a rural road
sometime later, being trailed bya man following a short
distance behind her.
When the man attempts to speakto her, she is startled and runs
away, only to tumble into aditch mere moments later.
As the man tries to help thewoman, detective Park just
happens to drive by and leapsfrom his vehicle.
As the man tries to help thewoman, detective Park just
happens to drive by and leapsfrom his vehicle, tackling the
man and accusing him of being arapist, as the frightened woman
frantically runs away.

(16:13):
This so-called rapist turns outto be Seo Tae-yeon, played by
Kim Sang-kyun, a detective fromSeoul who's come to assist the
investigation by volunteeringhis expertise in crime scene
analysis.
Quite a welcome to theneighborhood.
He got there Back at the policestation, so Park and Detective
Cho head down to the basementwhere Gwang-ho is still being

(16:36):
held.
Park had previously confiscatedGwang-ho's sneakers in order to
take a picture of the shoe printand compare it to the one he
had managed to photograph at thecrime scene before it was
destroyed.
While Detective Seo reviews thecase files.
Park Cho and Gwang-ho sitnearby eating takeout, watching
an old detective show on TVwhile waiting for the

(16:57):
photographs of the shoe print tobe developed.
Side note, the program they'rewatching is Su Sa Ban Jang, a
hugely popular Korean detectiveshow which aired for nearly two
decades, making its openingtheme song instantly
recognizable to the majority ofKorean audiences.

Ashley (17:37):
Not a bad way to spend a day at the office watching one
of your favorite shows andeating what looks like some
delicious ramen.

Remi (17:46):
And I like that.
At the end he comments thissong is great, it's a good song,
it's a catchy little tune.
Once the photographs arefinally developed, park resumes
his clumsy interrogation ofGuang Ho, insisting that these
shoe prints are a perfect match,while in reality the crime
scene print is anything butclear.
While in reality the crimescene print is anything but
clear when Guanghou continues toplead his innocence, the

(18:12):
detectives march him into thewoods and force him to dig his
own grave in an attempt toterrify him into confessing.
Detective so hangs back,chain-smoking, refusing to take
part.
But eventually Park coercesGuanghou into confessing to the
murder.
Since the details of Guanghou'sstory don't fully align with
the facts, park fills in anygaps by spoon-feeding Gwang-ho
the correct answers.

(18:33):
Disgusted with Park and Cho'slack of ethics, so leaves for
the station to personallyre-examine the evidence.
Park and Cho return later withGwang-ho in tow, satisfied with
their coerced confession andeven stopping to pose for a
newspaper photo to celebratetheir supposed triumph While
being led away, so notices thatGwang-ho's fingers are webbed,

(18:57):
which would have made thespecific attack they are
accusing him of virtuallyimpossible.
Gwang-hou is then taken to thecrime scene for a public
reenactment, with anotherofficer dressed as the victim
standing in for the murderedwoman, so insists that the
charade be called offimmediately, since the victims
were found bound and strangledusing three precise knots, which

(19:20):
would have been impossible forGuanghou to execute because of
his condition, which would havebeen impossible for Guanghou to
execute because of his condition.
So's objections fall on deafears, however, since the police
sergeant appears more eager toclose the case than seek out the
truth.
When the reenactment is allowedto continue, it quickly
devolves into chaos, leading toGuanghou's arrest warrant being
revoked and the investigativeteam being reshuffled.

(19:44):
As a result of this failedpublic spectacle, park is
summoned to present all of hisfindings regarding the
investigation to Sergeant ShinDong-chul, played by Song Ja-ho.
During his presentation, welearned that the two victims
were both women who were walkingalone at night during a
rainstorm.
The victims were then boundwith their own stockings and

(20:05):
sexually assaulted, before beingstrangled and left partially
concealed in rural fields lessthan a kilometer apart.
Detective Soh adds that a thirdwoman matching the other
victim's profiles disappearedtwo months earlier and though
her body has yet to be found,soh has pinpointed an
approximate location andpromises to locate it within two
days.

(20:25):
True to his word, so discoversthe third victim's body in
another read field, with theautopsy confirming that she had
been bound, raped and strangledwith her own stockings, just
like the others.
That night, the detectives dineat Guang Ho's family's
restaurant, where Park giftsGuang Ho a new pair of white
Nikes to make amends for thetrouble he's put him through,

(20:47):
though it is obvious thatthey're just a cheap pair of
knockoffs.

Ashley (20:51):
I don't think a new pair of shoes is going to make up
for the trauma that this guyprobably now has.

Remi (20:59):
I know sorry for accusing you of rape and murder.
Here's a new pair of Nikes.
Yeah, that's not gonna make upfor it.
And personal side note herethere are a ton of eating scenes
in this movie, like way morethan there actually should be.
I mean seriously, these copsare shown eating meals together
in basically every other sceneand I have absolutely no idea

(21:19):
the significance here.
So if anyone out there knows,please send us an email and fill
me in cause.
I got nothing Later that nightat a karaoke bar Park and so get
into a brief physicalaltercation over their very
different investigative styles.
Following this, sergeant Shinleans over and vomits into an

(21:40):
ice bucket after having one toomany beers that night.
Then, in a rare moment ofclarity following his guttural
purging, shin declares that nowthat they understand the
killer's pattern, they will beready the next time he strikes.
Meanwhile, around town, rumorshave begun to spread amongst the
children that the killer hidesbeneath the outhouse behind the

(22:00):
all-girls school lying in waitfor his next victim, which
sounds really, really fuckingdisgusting.
So they're saying this guy isbasically hiding in shit all day
and just coming out to killpeople.
That's terrifying.
Imagine being murdered by a mancovered in shit On the next
rainy evening.
So and his team set up a trapby using a lone woman wearing a

(22:22):
bright red dress as bait, whileso and the other officers watch
from nearby, ready to pounce atthe first sign of trouble.

Ashley (22:29):
This is probably the best idea they have had thus far
.

Remi (22:32):
Well, elsewhere that same night in the pouring rain,
another woman walks alone down adark rural path using a
flashlight to guide her way.
The woman hums softly toherself on her way to work the
midnight shift down at theRemacon factory when she
suddenly overhears the faintsound of someone whistling along
to her tune, coming fromsomewhere out in the reed field.

(22:55):
I still love you.
It's a dark night, walkingalone.

Ashley (23:19):
God, that would be absolutely terrifying.
In the clip, when the whwhistling stops, she uses her
flashlight to pan around her,but there is no one that she can
see, so this guy is justcrouched beneath the reeds in
this field watching her.

Remi (23:38):
Is there anything more terrifying?
Being somewhere and knowingthat you are being watched, but
you can't see who it is?
You don't know their intentions, but you know that somebody's
there.
That just makes my skin crawl.
It's terrifying.
The woman breaks into a sprinttowards her destination, trying
to outrun the unseen presencewhen, out of nowhere, a man

(24:01):
lunges at her from the roadsideditch, causing her to scream out
in terror as the screensuddenly cuts to black.
The next day, police discoverthe woman's lifeless body,
dragged roughly 400 meters fromwhere she was first attacked.
Because of the complete absenceof male pubic hair discovered at
the various crime scenes, Parkspeculates that the killer may

(24:23):
be a Buddhist monk who shavestheir entire body, which Park
calls the perfect crime.
So and Sergeant Shin, however,aren't quite as confident in
Park's theory, and I would tendto agree.
There is also a scene where hegoes to a bathhouse and is
looking at everyone's pubicareas trying to see if any of

(24:43):
the men there are bald.
A new lead finally emerges wheninvestigators realize that on
the night of each murder,someone had written in to a
specific FM radio station torequest the song Sad Letter to
be played on the same night aseach killing occurred 80s Korean

(25:23):
music has a very distinct vibeto it.
I will say that, Since themysterious radio listener had
mailed a postcard requesting thesong, so heads down to the
radio station to see if he canprocure it, but once there
learns that the letter hadalready been discarded.
Also, how crazy is it that thistook place when people wrote

(25:44):
letters in to request songs atthe radio station?
I didn't even know that everwas a thing, honestly.
The radio station I didn't evenknow that ever was a thing,
honestly.
Meanwhile, Park has grown sodesperate that he actually
visits a shaman to ask who themurderer is, and I'll give you
one guess how that turned out.
One night, while so Park andCho are separately staking out

(26:05):
the crime scene, they spot ashadowy figure arrive who pulls
out a pair of women's underwearfrom his trousers and places
them gently on the ground infront of him.
The man then drops his pants,revealing that he is wearing red
panties underneath, and beginspleasuring himself while staring
at the underwear.

Ashley (26:22):
Jeez, what a weirdo.

Remi (26:25):
When Cho accidentally steps on a twig during all of
this, the man quickly realizesthat he may not be alone, so
hastily pulls his pants up andmakes a break for it.
The three detectives pursue theman into a bustling gypsum mine
, where he manages to seamlesslyblend in with the other factory
workers until Park notices theman's unmistakable red panties

(26:47):
still sticking out above hiswaistline.
After being drop-kicked by Cho,the man is arrested and brought
down to the station for furtherquestioning.
That is Cho's second dropkickof the film so far.
There, the man is identified asCho Byung-sun, played by Ryo
Tae-ho, a husband and fathercaring for his sick wife and

(27:09):
several children, all of whomlive in a single room together.

Ashley (27:13):
Oh, now I feel bad for calling him a weirdo.

Remi (27:16):
Yeah, I wasn't going to say anything, but this is
actually pretty sad.

Ashley (27:20):
I was thinking it was really weird that he was doing
this in the middle of a field,but it sounds like there's
probably no privacy at his home.

Remi (27:30):
They show his home.
It's about the size of ourmaster bathroom and he has about
five kids and a sick wife, andit's because of this.
Joe says that he willoccasionally sneak out into the
woods simply to masturbate inprivate, which honestly is
completely understandable Eventhough he's got his kink, you

(27:51):
know, he is entitled to it butmaybe somewhere a little bit
more private than just themiddle of the woods or a crime
scene.
After holding Joe illegally forfour days without a warrant,
park forces another confessionout of him, though many of the
details still don't match thefacts.
Joe even alleges that he wouldhide under the outhouse behind

(28:12):
the all-girls school, waiting tostalk his victims, believing
that admitting to the urbanlegend was what the police
wanted to hear from him.
And this guy is being held inhis underwear, with his arms
above his head handcuffed, sohe's basically being tortured
during this interrogation.

Ashley (28:29):
He's just willing to say anything to make it stop.

Remi (28:33):
Exactly.
He's pretty delirious by thetime.
He's confessing to anythingWithout any other leads, so
decides to head on over to theall-girls school to investigate
the outhouses.
While there so learns of adeeply traumatized woman living
alone in a remote cottage whoturns out to be the killer's
only known surviving victim.

(28:53):
What are the odds?
Who would have thought anouthouse visit would literally
bring you to the biggest breakin your case imaginable.
So enlist the help of a femaleofficer named Kwon Kwi Ok,
played by Ko Si Hee, to conductthe interview.
But because the womanpurposefully did not look at her
attacker's face, she is onlyable to reveal that his hands

(29:15):
were unusually soft and almostfeminine.
This alone clears Jo of anyfurther suspicion, but we never
do find out how the womanmanaged to escape.

Ashley (29:27):
You will find out in my section.

Remi (29:29):
Back at the station, during yet another scuffle
between so and Park, the songSad Letter begins playing live
on the radio, while outside ithas just begun to rain.
Early the next morning, anotherwoman's body is found, with the
autopsy revealing that sevensmall pieces of peach had been
inserted into the woman's vagina.

(29:50):
This latest killing is enoughto finally push so and Park past
their rivalry and agree tostart working together.
Fortunately, the radio stationwas able to save the most recent
postcard sent in requesting sadletter leading so and Park to a
strikingly handsome clerk atthe gypsum factory named Park

(30:10):
Yoon-gyu, played by Park Ha-il,who also happens to have
remarkably smooth hands.
During questioning, yoon-gyuadmits that he did in fact write
the song requests, whilespecifying for them to be played
on the next rainy evening.
This alone is enough to earnYoon-gyu a swift dropkick from

(30:31):
Cho, but is still not enoughevidence to connect him directly
to any of the murders.

Ashley (30:37):
Man.
So this guy is just kickingpeople left and right, not even
ones that are trying to escape.

Remi (30:42):
Yes, he is a non-stop kicking machine.
In fact, I have a littlemontage that I am going to show
Ashley, which you at home willnot be able to see, of all of
the dropkicks that thischaracter, cho, does throughout
the film.

Ashley (31:00):
Okay, so it is only three, but wow, that guy can
really get high up in the air,can't he?
He's kicking these people likein the chest.

Remi (31:11):
And he is leaping through the air, can't he?
He's kicking these people likein the chest.
And he is leaping through theair and doing this.
He isn't staying on the groundand kicking them, he is
literally throwing his entirebody weight through the air to
kick these men in the chest.
Very suddenly and unexpectedly.
I was very caught off guard thefirst time that happened in the
film.
I was very caught off guard thefirst time that happened in the

(31:31):
film.
After finally banning Cho fromthe interrogation room, so and
Park revisit the taped interviewwith Gwang-ho the man with
webbed fingers and realize thathe may have actually witnessed
one of the murders transpire.
The two detectives rush toGwang-ho's family's restaurant,
where they find Cho drunk andsuspended for assaulting Yun Gu.

(31:53):
When the patrons mock thepolice for their incompetence,
tensions quickly boil over,leading to an all-out brawl
instigated by Chou.
In the chaos, guanghou strikesChou with a broken table leg,
embedding the nail deeply inChou's leg.
Panicking, guanghou flees andis pursued by so and Park.

(32:14):
But in his desperate attempt toescape, guanghou is struck and
killed by a passing train.

Ashley (32:21):
God, this poor guy.

Remi (32:23):
I do feel sorry for this character.
He really didn't know even whatwas going on and was just
scared most of the time.
Soon after, the coroneruncovers semen on the last
victim's clothing, meaning theycould potentially be able to
match the DNA to Yeon-gyu.
Unfortunately, Korea doesn'tcurrently have that technology,

(32:46):
so the sample must be sent tothe United States for analysis.
While they wait on the results,Cho's untreated leg wound
develops a severe case oftetanus, forcing doctors to
amputate and meaning Cho willnever dropkick again.

Ashley (33:02):
That's the real tragedy of this whole story.

Remi (33:05):
I find it so crazy that Cho's dropkick has a story arc
in this film.
Crazy that Chose Dropkick has astory arc in this film.
On the next rainy evening sostakes out Yeon-gyu from his car
but drifts off to sleep and bymorning another young girl is
found murdered, with straightrazor cuts along her breasts and
a spork and pen inserted intoher vagina, racked with guilt

(33:27):
and rage.
So tracks down Yeon-gyu,dragging him out into the train
tracks and savagely beating him.
So holds a gun to Yeon-gyu'shead, demanding a confession,
but is stopped by Park whoarrives with the DNA results
which have come back asinconclusive.
So refuses to accept this andnearly pulls the trigger anyway.

(33:49):
But Park stops him, leavingYeon-gyu free to vanish back
into the darkness of the traintunnel.
And side note here the darkabyss which takes the form of a
dark train tunnel in this sceneis a recurring visual and
thematic element which appearsin many of Bong Joon-ho's films,
often representing a dark,uncomfortable truth which

(34:10):
individuals would rather not seebut must inevitably confront.
This was in Parasite in theBasement.
Remember?
There was a dark void goingdown in the basement and the
man's head came out and that'sall you could see.

Ashley (34:23):
Yes, how can you forget that scene?

Remi (34:25):
It's my favorite shot in the entire film.
By 2003, the murders remainunsolved and Park no longer
works for the police force.
Instead, he is now a husbandand father of two, currently
working as a juice extractorsalesman.
One morning, on his way intowork, he passes the site of the
first murder and can't help butstop to look once more.

(34:47):
While there, he encounters ayoung girl who mentions that she
recently met another manvisiting that very same spot,
reminiscing about something he'ddone there a long, long time
ago.
Park asks the little girl ifshe can remember what the man
looked like, and she pauses,thinking carefully, before
finally saying that the manlooked so ordinary that she

(35:07):
couldn't even recall a singledistinct feature about him.
And that was Bong Joon-ho'smemories of murder.
And I think my big question foryou, ashley, is is Yeon-gyu the
killer and is he a real person?
That was the big question I hadat the end of this film.
Is this guy that the movie isheavily, heavily hinting at was

(35:31):
the killer?
Did he turn out to be thekiller?

Ashley (35:34):
We'll get into that in a moment.

Remi (35:36):
Good, because I am really dying to know.

Ashley (35:40):
But first, what did you think about it?
Did you think that thisdeserved to be in the top 100
best movies of the last 25 years?

Remi (35:48):
It is a great film.
It was much stranger than Ithought it was going to be.
I figured this would be apretty straightforward detective
chasing after a serial killertype film, but Bong Joon-ho
added so many strange elementsthat were almost comedic in
numerous scenes, which reallyreally caught me off guard and

(36:12):
held my attention the entiretime.
I know he most likely tookliberties with things, but he
really crafted a brilliant filmhere and, honestly, behind
Parasite, this would be mysecond favorite film he's ever
done.

Ashley (36:27):
Wow, so you like this one even more than Snowpiercer
and the Host.

Remi (36:32):
I do.
I prefer his more groundedfilms to his sci-fi monster
films.
I feel like this film andParasite are almost more similar
to Park Chan-wook films, whodid the Vengeance trilogy, and I
like those types of films alittle bit more than the
fantastical ones with CGI,rhinoceros, elephant, hippo,

(36:57):
things running around.
I don't even know how todescribe Okja, but yes, it's a
brilliant film.
Memories of a Murder.
It is not for everyone, but itis a recommend for anyone out
there who is a Bong Joon-ho fanand has yet to check this one
out, like I had.

Ashley (37:14):
Well, I'm definitely going to have you watch it again
, but we'll save it until we aredone with the entire movie list
, so there'll be ample passageof time for you.

Remi (37:24):
All right.
Well, let's get into therelease of Memories of a Murder,
which gained a cult followingwithin the first year of its
release and by the end of thedecade it was hailed by
international critics as notonly one of the best crime films
of the 21st century, but alsoone of the greatest Korean films
ever made Very high praisethere.

(37:47):
On Rotten Tomatoes, the filmcurrently holds a 95% approval
rating, with an average score of8.2 out of 10.
The critical consensus readsMemories of Murder blends the
familiar crime genre with socialsatire and comedy, capturing
the all-too-human desperation ofits key characters.

Ashley (38:07):
Wow, so yeah, I guess it really does deserve a spot on
that list.
Bravo, key characters.

Remi (38:13):
Memories of Murder was also the most watched film in
South Korea in 2003, with over5.1 million people viewing the
film domestically, and by theend of its run it had become the
fourth most watched film inKorean history, behind Shiri,
Friend and Joint Security Area,none of which I have seen but

(38:33):
will be checking out.
Its commercial success is evencredited with saving its
production company, SidusPictures, from having to file
for bankruptcy.
The film's influence spread farbeyond Korea as well, with
Quentin Tarantino namingMemories of Murder one of his
top 20 favorite films since 1992.
And I find it interesting hehas to specify that it's his top

(38:55):
20 films since 1992.
, Because I guess it doesn'tmake the list if you bring it
back to 91.

Ashley (39:01):
I mean, he's seen like every single movie to ever be
made, so I'm sure he has just amillion different top 20 lists.

Remi (39:10):
Pan's Labyrinth.
Director Guillermo del Toroeven called the film a
masterclass in filmmaking and aprime example of perfect cinema.

Guillermo del Toro (39:21):
There is for me a kinship with Bong at many
levels in this desire to takewhat would be a genre piece and
put it through the prism of aconcrete historical social
context that changes the way thepiece can be read, because it

(39:41):
is not just something thathappens somewhere.

Remi (39:45):
I'm sad that Guillermo has never done a true crime film,
so we will never get to discusshim on this podcast.

Ashley (39:53):
Maybe one day.

Remi (39:55):
Memories of Murder went on to collect an impressive number
of awards from many of Korea'smajor film ceremonies in 2003.
The film swept the Chunsa FilmArt Awards, earning wins for
Best Film, best Director, bestScreenplay, best Actor, best
Supporting Actor, bestCinematography and Best Editing.

(40:15):
This was a similar case at theKorean Film Awards, where the
movie won Best Film, bestDirector for Bong Joon-ho, best
Actor for Song Kang-ho, bestScreenplay for Bong and Shim
Sung-bo, along with the awardsfor Best Cinematography and Best
Editing.
A loosely based Bollywoodremake titled Foot Fairy was

(40:37):
released in 2020, and yes, it isa musical.
So here is a brief clip ofAndhira by Shivi, which is one
of only three songs in the film.

Ashley (40:57):
Oh, I do like the song, but one what an awful title.
And two can you even call it amusical if there's only three
songs?
That is not enough.

Remi (41:14):
If it is based on the true story of a serial killer.
Yes, I will call it a musicalif it has three songs in it.
There shouldn't be any songs infilms about real-life serial
killers, in my opinion, but Ihave not seen this one, so it
could be a masterpiece, whoknows.
But it is unusual that there isa musical Indian remake of a
Korean serial killer film basedon true life events.
After Memories of Murder wasreleased, director Bong Joon-ho

(41:36):
said that he was confident thatthe real killer would eventually
watch the film, and it isbecause of this that the final
shot features Detective Parkstaring directly into the camera
breaking the fourth wall,according to the director Park
isn't just looking at theaudience in that moment, but
staring straight into the camerabreaking the fourth wall.
According to the director Parkisn't just looking at the
audience in that moment, butstaring straight into the eyes
of the real killer, should he bewatching?

Ashley (41:58):
Oh wow, that is really really cool.

Remi (42:01):
I know right Years later, in 2019, Lee Chun-ja, the man
responsible for the crimes thatinspired the film, admitted to
having seen Memories of Murdercommenting I just watched it as
a movie.
I had no feeling or emotiontowards it.
Chilling words, to end on,completely emotionless, by the

(42:22):
real-life killer.
But I'm very eager to know ifthis killer was the man in the
film or how much of the film wasembellished, because I'm
guessing there's a lot ofliberties that were taken.
I know the song thing is notaccurate.

Ashley (42:36):
Yeah, I gave you a weird look when you were like vaguely
asking me about that and I wasso confused.

Remi (42:42):
Well, I can't wait any longer, ashley, are you ready to
tell us the true story?

Ashley (42:47):
All right, here we go.
Wasong, south Korea, is a ruralcity near Seoul.

(43:11):
In the late 1980s and early1990s it was home to about
226,000 residents living insmall villages tucked between
forested hills and rice fields.
Between September 19, 1986 andApril 3, 1991, the area was
encompassed by fear.
A serial rapist and murdererpreyed on women walking home at

(43:33):
night, a common occurrence inthe region.
Due to limited bus routes, 14victims between the ages of 8
and 71 were killed.

Remi (43:43):
I do want to point out that in the film, the women are
all around the same age and theyare all described as being very
beautiful.

Ashley (43:53):
Most were discovered days after disappearing.
All had been raped andstrangled with their own
clothing.
Some were stabbed after theirdeath and in several disturbing
cases half-shaped pieces ofpeach were found inside them.
The first known victim,71-year-old Lee Won-im, was
found on September 19, 1986.

(44:14):
Only three officers wereinitially assigned to the
investigation.
Local officials requestedassistance from larger agencies,
but at the time most policeresources in the country were
diverted to security for the1986 Asian Games, a precursor to
the 1988 Summer Olympics.

(44:34):
This was done amid heightenedtensions from North Korea.
After the discovery of thethird victim, 23-year-old Lee
Kai-sook, on December 21, 1986,more investigators were brought
in from outside agencies.
Still, police were hesitant todraw attention to the case to
avoid any suggestion a potentialserial killer was at large.

Remi (44:57):
They didn't want people to panic.
I'm assuming.

Ashley (45:00):
The scale of the investigation escalated
drastically after the body of19-year-old Hong Jun-young was
discovered on January 11, 1987.
Because all the murdersoccurred within a four-mile
radius, police stationed pairsof officers every 100 meters.
Female officers even beganwearing red, hoping to lure out

(45:24):
the killer after rumors spreadabout him targeting women in red
on rainy days.

Remi (45:30):
This is brought up in the film as well.

Ashley (45:37):
Despite these efforts, the Hwasong murderer continued
to slip through their grasp.
The case ultimately became thelargest criminal investigation
in South Korean history.
More than two million man-dayswere devoted to it, 4,000 people
were fingerprinted and over21,000 suspects were
investigated.
The police department was undermounting pressure from both the
media and public to solve thecase, with many calling for

(46:00):
resignations if the killerwasn't caught quickly.
In response, investigators casta wide net, questioning anyone
they believed could possibly beconnected to the crimes, but
their methods were often farfrom ethical.
In the 1980s, it was common forSouth Korean police to keep

(46:23):
suspects awake for days in anattempt to force a confession.
In later years, multiple menaccused investigators of using
torture, including beingwaterboarded with spicy seafood
soup.

Remi (46:31):
That sounds awful, oh my god.
Torture, including beingwaterboarded with spicy seafood
soup.

Ashley (46:35):
That sounds awful, oh my god.
One notable example came inDecember 1990, when a
19-year-old confessed tocommitting one of the murders,
only to retract his statementduring a crime reenactment.
He later revealed hisconfession was coerced through
threats, torture andelectrocution.

Remi (46:51):
They did not show electrocution in the film.
These police went a lot furtherthan the ones on screen did.

Ashley (46:59):
After his release he struggled to return to normal
life and died of cancer at theage of 27.
At least four other men tooktheir own lives in the 1990s
after being interrogated andabused while in police custody.
One man accused of two of themurders, after a medium from the
United States claimed she sawhis face in a dream,

(47:20):
successfully sued the governmentfor damages in 1995.
Sadly, he died by suicide twoyears later.

Remi (47:28):
That is probably what the shaman scene in the film is
referencing.

Ashley (47:33):
As the investigation dragged on, the villages of
Wasong grew quiet and eerie.
Women avoided wearing red andgoing out after dark.
Men fearful of being questionedby the police kept a low
profile, though.
Some formed nighttime patrolsquads roaming the streets after
dark with sticks.
Some locals even erected ascarecrow as a talisman to ward

(47:56):
off the killer.
At its base they scrawled achilling warning If you do not
hand yourself in, you will betorn limb from limb.
I think this scarecrow isdepicted in the poster for this
movie.

Remi (48:09):
You are correct in that.

Ashley (48:12):
Over the years, police produced three composite
sketches of the suspect.
The first came from a woman whonarrowly escaped after being
sexually assaulted at knifepoint in November 1986, slipping
away while her attackersearched through her purse.

Remi (48:27):
So that's how she escaped.
Was she not tied up or did shefree herself?

Ashley (48:33):
I don't think she was tied up.

Remi (48:34):
Okay, so was this one of his earlier victims.

Ashley (48:38):
Yeah, the first body was found in September 1986 and
this was November.
A second sketch was from a manwho, in mid-1987, was briefly
mistaken as a woman because ofhis long hair while using a
public restroom.
The third came from two busdrivers who claimed they saw a
man board their bus shortlyafter the murder of 54-year-old

(49:00):
Ahn Gun Soon on September 7,1987.
In each case, the Hwasongmurderer was described as a thin
man in his mid-20s, standingbetween 5'5 to 5'7, with a short
, sporty haircut, sharp nose andeyes, soft hands and a low
voice.
Police also had what theybelieved to be their most

(49:21):
valuable clue semen samples frommultiple victims.
But in the late 1980s DNAanalysis was still in its
infancy.
While it was beginning to beused in some western countries,
south Korea lacked the equipmentand technology to process the
evidence.
Even fingerprint comparisonswere done by eyesight alone.

Remi (49:40):
That cannot possibly be accurate.

Ashley (49:43):
The killer broke from his usual pattern on September
16th 1988, when he slipped intothe home of 14-year-old Park
Sang-hee and raped and killedher while her parents slept in
the next room.
At the scene, police recoveredeight strands of hair containing
traces of heavy metal thatdidn't belong to anyone from the
household.

(50:03):
Investigators started lookinginto local men who worked with
heavy machinery and had type Bblood.
Given the results of previouslyconducted blood typing analyses
, in May 1989, they set theirsights on 22-year-old Yoon Sung
Yip, a welder at a farming toolcenter.
In July 25, 1989, policesummoned him to the station

(50:27):
after visiting his home while hewas eating dinner.
Yoon's life up to and beyondthat point was shaped by
hardship.
At age three he contractedpolio, which left him with a
lifelong limp so severe that hewas exempt from South Korea's
mandatory military service,believing his disability made
him undesirable.
He never had a romanticrelationship or even attempted
to speak to women in that way,and investigators used this

(50:48):
romantic relationship or evenattempted to speak to women in
that way, and investigators usedthis against him, speculating
that he killed women out ofhatred.

Remi (50:57):
They do this in the film as well, when they are trying to
coerce a confession from him.

Ashley (51:03):
When Yoon was in the third grade, his mother was
killed in a car accident.
His father, consumed by agambling addiction, stopped
supporting the family altogether.
Left to fend for himself, yoonquit school and moved to Wusong
where he spent nearly a yearbegging for work and food
outside a fried chickenrestaurant.

(51:23):
By age 11, he found steadyemployment at a farming tool
center, the same place he workedat when he was arrested 11
years later.
Though not articulate orexpressive, he was known for his
reliability and strong workethic.
Yoon was taken to a small, darkinterrogation room where he was
handcuffed and relentlesslyquestioned for three days about

(51:45):
the rape and murder of ParkSang-hee.
He was given almost no food,allowed to leave only to use the
bathroom, and jolted awakewhenever he tried to sleep.
After three days of this, yoonbroke, exhausted, disoriented
and desperate to go home.
He told police he went for awalk on the night of September
16, 1988, and because of hislimp he had to stop to rest

(52:10):
several times.
Around midnight he claimed hesaw a house with a light on and
suddenly felt a quote urge forrape.
According to his statement, heclimbed into the house, attacked
the young girl and burned hisclothes on the way home.

Remi (52:25):
Would he have even been able to do this with his limp?
Would he be able to climb intosomebody's house like this?

Ashley (52:38):
Hold that thought.
I get to that very soon.
Despite confessing to thislater, yoon would say he didn't
even remember what he wrote down.
That day, on July 28th 1989,police called a press conference
and made him repeat thestatement for the cameras.
In this footage he looks dirtyand dazed, with his head bowed
and speaking in a low voice.
he said the police didn't demandanything of me.

(53:02):
It was not an accident.
I finished work that day withmy friends and they had bully
pain, so I wandered off aloneand that house caught my eye.
At first, I didn't intend tomurder anyone.
As I climbed over the wall, Isaw a door and inside the house
there was a woman, withoutrealizing what I was doing,
because I was so emotional aboutbeing bullied.

(53:24):
I just did it.
The evidence against Yoon wasshaky at best.
The village he lived in wassmall, so while he knew some of
Park Sang-hee's friends, henever met her directly.
As a welder he had traces oftitanium in his hair, but a
forensic report showed the hairrecovered from the crime scene

(53:45):
was only a 40% match.
Even with his confession,police ignored a glaring issue.
Yoon's disability made itnearly impossible for him to
scale the wall to approach thehouse, let alone undress and
restrain the girl if sheresisted.
On August 10, 1989, policebrought him to the crime scene

(54:06):
to test whether he could climbthat wall.
He failed, but the officialreport was falsified to say he
succeeded.
Yoon also didn't match thebehavioral profile of a sadistic
, sex-driven killer.

Remi (54:19):
Because he isn't this poor man.

Ashley (54:22):
He had no history of sexual violence, deviant
interests or abnormal behavior,but still investigators were
convinced they had their man.

Remi (54:32):
Why were they convinced?
Just because of the stuff foundin his hair.
That's literally all that theyhave at this point.

Ashley (54:40):
They just wanted to close this case.
It was a media and publicspectacle and they just wanted
it to be done, so they pinned iton this guy.
He does only end up beingcharged for this murder, but for
a year or so they believed thatthey caught the man responsible
.

Remi (54:58):
That is insane and very tragic for this man.

Ashley (55:03):
There's a documentary that I have linked in the show
notes that's about this case,and he was heavily involved in
it and despite everything hewent through, he maintains just
such a remarkable sense ofpositivity and outlook on his
life.
It's truly impressive.

Remi (55:20):
Well, that is good to hear , at least.

Ashley (55:23):
Yoon's trial for the murder of Park Sang-hee began in
Seoul in February 1990.
His public defender failed toappear, forcing Yoon to
represent himself.

Remi (55:34):
He just no-showed.

Ashley (55:36):
Yeah, just no one showed up and they were like, well,
we're gonna go through, you cantalk for yourself, right?

Remi (55:41):
I cannot imagine the panic this man must have felt.

Ashley (55:46):
Despite the complete absence of reliable forensic
evidence, he was convicted andsentenced to life in prison.

Remi (55:53):
What the fuck is going on here?
This guy is being convictedbased on nothing, based on
forced confessions and theslimmest evidence I've heard in
a long time.

Ashley (56:05):
Believing the killer was behind bars, hwasong breathed a
sigh of relief.
The killer was behind bars.
Hwasong breathed a sigh ofrelief until the body of
14-year-old King Mi-jung wasdiscovered on November 16, 1990.
So it was only nine monthsafter the trial that another
murder happened.

Remi (56:22):
Well, that does tend to happen.
When you falsely imprisonsomeone for a crime they didn't
do, the person that really didthe crime may keep doing it.

Ashley (56:32):
This was followed by the murder of 69-year-old Kwon
Soon-Sang on April 4th 1991.
Yoon was relieved when policecame to question him three years
after his conviction.
He hoped they would realize hisinnocence.
Instead, they dismissed him asa copycat killer.
Prison life was brutal for Yoon.

(56:52):
At one point, he was sent tosolitary confinement and forced
to eat dog food with his handstied behind his back.
Inmates were forbidden fromlooking at clocks, which is why
he hung several of them in hisroom after his release.
Throughout his incarceration,he maintained his innocence and
tried to appeal.
The only person who believedhim was a nun named Ho Gyun Na,

(57:17):
who led a support group andcontinued to visit him monthly.
Yoon was paroled in 2009 afterspending 20 years behind bars.
He never returned to hishometown and stayed at a
supportive housing facility runby Ho Gyun Na for three years.

Remi (57:33):
This did not go how I was hoping for this guy.
I was really hoping that theywould realize they had the wrong
man and release him, but he'dspent 20 years of his life
paying for something he neverdid.

Ashley (57:48):
That's just horrifying for something he never did.
That's just horrifying.
I know when we started outdoing this episode for our
seasonal serial killer episode,I was not expecting it to also
be a wrongful conviction.
So treat to all of you twowrongful conviction cases in a
row.
While in prison, Yoonbefriended an officer named
Jong-Doo Park.

(58:08):
The two kept in touch.
After his release, Parkregularly checked up on him,
knowing how hard life would beso difficult, in fact, that at
one time Yoon said he wouldrather return to prison.
He longed to prove hisinnocence because he couldn't
face his mother in heaven as aconvicted murderer and wanted
her to be proud of him.

Remi (58:30):
This is just heartbreaking .
This poor guy.

Ashley (58:34):
Over time, the Hwasong case faded from South Korea's
public consciousness.
The release of memories ofmurder in 2003, combined with
the killing of a female collegestudent in 2004, reignited fear
that the serial killer hadreturned.
The case hit headlines again asthe statute of limitations for

(58:54):
the last victim was set toexpire on April 2nd 2006.

Remi (59:00):
There's a statute of limitations on murder in South
Korea.
At the time there was and itwas only 15 years- the audience
can't see me, but my eyes arebulging out of my head.

Ashley (59:13):
It was increased to 25 years in 2007 and abolished
altogether, thanks in large partto this case, in 2015,.
But those changes didn't applyretroactively, meaning even if
the true killer was caught, hecould never be prosecuted for
the murders.
And this could have been theend of our story, but remarkably

(59:33):
it's not.
Despite the statute oflimitations expiration, the
government chose not to destroythe DNA evidence because of the
high-profile nature of the case.
Using a newly developed DNArestoration technique, samples
from five of the victims werecompared against a national
database of inmates created in2010.

(59:55):
On September 18, 2019,authorities publicly named a
suspect, lee Chung-jae.
But who was he and how did hemanage to evade detection for
over 30 years?
Lee was born on January 1, 1963, in Wasong.

(01:00:17):
Little is known about hischildhood, but his family was
wealthy and, according to hismother, he excelled in school,
got along with his peers and wasdeeply affected by the drowning
death of a younger sibling.
Lee graduated from high schoolin February 1983 and joined the
Korean Army, serving as a tankdriver until his discharge in

(01:00:38):
January 1986.
Just nine months later, thefirst Hwasong murder occurred.
Lee quickly found a job at anelectrical equipment
manufacturing company.
In September 1989, he wascaught inside a private
residence by its homeowner andarrested.
In February 1990, he wasconvicted of robbery and

(01:01:00):
sentenced to one year and sixmonths in prison.
He swiftly appealed, claiminghe had been beaten by an unknown
man, and entered the housewhile fleeing his attacker.
The story had obvious holes.
It didn't explain why he waswearing gloves indoors or why,
if he truly feared for his life,he hadn't used the weapons he

(01:01:21):
had on him.
Still, he was granted a secondtrial and given a suspended
sentence with two years ofprobation.
He was released in April 1990and began working as a crane
operator, a job he kept forthree years before quitting

(01:01:41):
operator, a job he kept forthree years before quitting.
In April 1992, lee married abookkeeper and had a son.
Looking back at the timeline ofthe Wasong murders, his crime
spree started with sexualassaults just one month after
his military discharge andabruptly stopped when he got
married In December 1993, lee'swife left him, citing his
abusive behavior and alcoholism.

(01:02:02):
Just one month later, onJanuary 13, 1994, he lured his
18-year-old sister-in-law to hishome where he drugged, raped
and killed her out of revenge.
When she failed to return homethat night, he even helped his
father-in-law search for her andaccompanied him to the police
station to report her missing.

(01:02:22):
The following day her body wasfound wrapped in a tarp inside
the garage of a hardware store.
Lee quickly became the primarysuspect.
During the search of his homethey found her DNA in the
bathroom under the washingmachine.
He was arrested on January 18,1994.
During questioning he asked theinvestigators how many years do

(01:02:46):
you serve in prison for rapeand murder?
Despite this, he denied anyinvolvement and gave conflicting
statements over the next twodays.
In May 1994, he was convictedand sentenced to death.
The following year his sentencewas commuted to life in prison
with the possibility of paroleafter 20 years.
He does not get paroled.

(01:03:07):
By the way, he was a modelinmate throughout his
incarceration at the BusanPenitentiary.
So was Lee one of the 21,000suspects during the
investigation of the Wasongmurders?
As a matter of fact, he wasBriefly.
He was questioned at the timeof the killings after police

(01:03:28):
approached him and discovered hedidn't have his ID card.
At the time he was even wearinga watch belonging to one of his
victims.
Due to flawed DNA testingmethods, investigators believe
the killer had type B blood andsince Lee had type O, he was
cleared as a suspect.

Remi (01:03:48):
Wow.
So the police's fuck upactually ended up getting this
guy off and costing more peopletheir lives.

Ashley (01:03:56):
During a later court hearing, which I'll get into in
a moment, lee expressed hissurprise that he wasn't
investigated more thoroughly,stating Crimes happened around
me and I didn't try to hidethings, so I thought I would get
caught easily.
There were hundreds of policeforces.
I bumped into detectives allthe time, but they always asked
me about people around me allthe time, but they always ask me

(01:04:19):
about people around me.

Remi (01:04:23):
This almost reminds me of the end of American Psycho,
where no one seems to benoticing that a serial killer
has been walking amongst themthe entire time, despite it
being blatantly obvious.

Ashley (01:04:30):
Lee initially denied any involvement when questioned
about the murders in September2019.
Over the course of two weeks,he was interrogated nine times
before finally confessing,something he said he decided to
do after developing rapport withthe lead female investigator.

Remi (01:04:48):
So they weren't putting this guy through torture like
they did the other guys.
They were being nice to him.

Ashley (01:04:55):
I mean this is 2019, so very different from the late
1980s.
I assume reform had happened atthis point.

Remi (01:05:03):
Yes, that's a very good point.

Ashley (01:05:06):
His admission came after being confronted with
irrefutable DNA evidence.
At that point, he reportedlystated so now you've finally
found me.
Lee went on to confess to 14murders, including the one Yoon
had been convicted of and threeothers not previously linked to
the case.
He also admitted to more than30 attempted and completed rapes

(01:05:29):
.
Unlike Yoon's coercedconfession, lee's was filled
with specifics only the realkiller could have known.
He provided detaileddescriptions of the killings,
the layout of the 14-year-oldvictim's house and how the women
were undressed.
He even still had the victim'swatch which he was wearing when
he was questioned.
Decades earlier, after 33 years, the case was finally solved.

(01:05:55):
Yoon began having nightmaresafter news of Lee's confession
broke in October 2019.
With the help of former OfficerPark, he filed for a retrial on
November 13, 2019.
At that time, the districtattorney publicly admitted that
officers mistreated him duringhis interrogation and falsified
the forensic report of his hairsample.

(01:06:17):
In December 2019, eight of theoriginal investigators were
charged with abuse of power,illegal detention, coercion and
falsifying investigativedocuments.
The chief of police formallyacknowledged the validity of
these allegations in July 2020.
Yoon's petition for a retrialwas granted in January 2020.

(01:06:39):
On November 2nd, 57-year-oldLee appeared as a witness and
gave his first and only publicstatement about the killings.
He showed little remorse.
Instead, using much of histestimony to criticize police
incompetence.
He claimed the murders wereimpulsive and committed without

(01:06:59):
any quote, plan or forethought.
I committed the crimes just asa moth chases a flame.
It was a natural process.
If I stopped myself, it wouldbe rape, but when I continued,
then it would be murder.
Any feelings of regret werefleeting.

Remi (01:07:15):
This guy is just soulless.
He has no feeling or emotion atall.

Ashley (01:07:21):
He is a psychopath for sure.
He did offer a formal apologyto Yoon and the victim's
families by stating I heard thatmany people had been
investigated and wrongfullysuffered too.
I'd like to apologize to allthose people.
I came in and testified anddescribed the crimes in hopes
for the victims and theirfamilies to find some comfort.

(01:07:42):
When the truth is revealed,I'll live my life with repent.
He insisted he had no plan toseek parole because he didn't
want to face public condemnation.
Yoon's conviction was finallyoverturned on December 17, 2020.
He was 53 years old and workingat a leather processing factory

(01:08:02):
.
He sued the government policedepartment and National Forensic
Service to hold themaccountable for their
wrongdoings.
He was awarded 2.87 million USdollars in compensation from the
South Korean government, andthat is the true story of Bong
Joon-ho's memories of murder.

(01:08:22):
What do you think, Remy?
Was it everything you wereexpecting, and more?

Remi (01:08:26):
This was a very unique case.
I'm a bit speechless by it.
I just can't believe that,beyond the people whose lives he
took, including the women heraped, he also took several
other people's lives who wereaccused of the crimes that he
committed.
And just the tragedy anddevastation that was left in

(01:08:49):
this guy's wake, with him justfloating through seemingly not
feeling a thing about any of hisactions, it was a really
chilling story.
This is one of the most evilpeople we've discussed on this
podcast by far.

Ashley (01:09:03):
What do you think about the director's choice to pretty
much leave out everything aboutYoon entirely?
By the time this movie came out, he was still in prison.
He wasn't released until 2009.
He was far from being formallyexonerated at that point.

Remi (01:09:20):
I'm a little conflicted about it.
I feel like the character ofGuanghou was probably partially
based on them, since they bothhad a physical handicap that
would have prevented them fromcarrying out the murders.
And in the film that characterdies.
He isn't sent to jail.
So I feel like that was donebecause Bong Joon-ho probably

(01:09:40):
did not think that that was theguy, so did not want to have
that included in the film, andinstead he had the character
killed unceremoniously.
But that's just myinterpretation of it is he most
likely did not think that theyhad their man and that's why he
made the film most likely didnot think that they had their
man and that's why he made thefilm.

Ashley (01:10:05):
That's what I thought too.
I assume that in his researchhe came across a lot of details
about Yoon's conviction and theabsolute lack of evidence they
had against him, and possiblyeven the fact that he had
maintained his innocence foryears, and he probably realized
that this guy didn't do it andcouldn't have done it.
So I'm assuming that's why itwas left out entirely.

Remi (01:10:23):
And a gigantic focus of the film, almost more so than
the crimes itself, is thecorruption and lack of ethics
that were occurring in thispolice department and just how
they were accusing basicallyanyone police department and
just how they were accusingbasically anyone.
If they had one lead.
They would bring them in andbasically torture them until

(01:10:43):
they confessed, even when thefacts didn't add up, and I feel
like Bong Joon-ho really didwant to highlight that aspect of
it and because of that I thinkhe also did not end the film
with they got their man, likethey were trying to say they did
in reality well, with that,let's get into our objection of
the week your honor I object.

(01:11:06):
And why is that, mr reed?
because it's devastating to mycase, overruled good call I will
start things off this week andjust a quick reminder.
Our objection of the week isthe most unnecessary,
superfluous change made in theadaptation from real life to
silver screen.
Mine this week is the fact thatin the film all of the women

(01:11:32):
murdered were young women.
None of the victims areportrayed as being over 50 or
older than that in some of thereal-life victims' cases, and
I'm not really sure what thatadded to it, because many of the
victims we don't even see theirfaces.
They're just a body layingthere.
So they could have very easilyhad the real ages of the real

(01:11:54):
victims in those scenes, but forwhatever reason they chose to
have all of the victims beyounger, attractive women.
So that is my objection of theweek.

Ashley (01:12:05):
This one was really challenging for me because the
focus of the movie was so muchin the investigation, and that
was the one I had thought ofafter you had mentioned that
earlier.
The only other one I can thinkof is that in the movie the
detectives go to a shaman whenin reality it was like a medium

(01:12:26):
that they had brought in fromthe United States that they
consulted with.

Remi (01:12:30):
I feel like that was done because they wanted to keep the
back and forth with America inthe film to a minimum.
I think the only time America'seven brought up is when they
send the DNA sample over there.

Ashley (01:12:42):
And they didn't even do that in real life.

Remi (01:12:44):
So in a way, I guess that's the movie's way of giving
a nod to the fact that they gotsomething from America in this
investigation.

Ashley (01:12:52):
Still a weird change, but I'm going to go with the
ages, because that's one we wereboth going to go with.

Remi (01:12:58):
Well, that brings us to the main part of our podcast.
Now our verdict.

Verdict (01:13:05):
At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will
deliver a verdict based on thefilm's accuracy.
If the film is an honestportrayal of the events, then it
will earn a not guilty verdict.
If the adaptation is mostlyfactual but creative liberties
were taken for the sake ofentertainment, the film will be
declared a mistrial.
But if the film ultimatelystrays too far from the truth,

(01:13:27):
then it will be condemned asguilty and sentenced to a life
behind bars.

Ashley (01:13:33):
Alright, I'll kick us off with this one, Reflecting on
the similarities.
There are several, andprimarily those involve how the
murders were carried out andwhat happened to the victims.
There's also clear similaritiesbetween the unethical police
practices, but in my mind,that's where the similarities

(01:13:54):
end.
I don't think this movie did agood job of really highlighting
the scope of this investigation.
200 million man days, 40,000people fingerprinted and 21,000
people investigated isabsolutely bonkers.
Obviously, I know the moviecouldn't have anywhere near that

(01:14:16):
many people in this that wouldbe insane but I think there
could have been other ways tohint at that.

Remi (01:14:22):
I will point out that Detective Park did have a binder
full of suspects, the people hewas interviewing at the
beginning of the film.
So that was kind of a way ofhinting at it, I guess, because
it was a binder full of a ton ofdifferent pictures of people.
But yeah, it's nowhere near asmany as you referenced.

Ashley (01:14:43):
Also, I kept a little running tally here of the
victims and there were six whenin reality there were 10.
Again, I'm assuming that wasjust done for streamlined
purposes, but I really thinkit's kind of a disservice that
Yoon's likeness was left out ofthis.
I think it would have been amore compelling commentary that

(01:15:05):
would have fit in line with whatthe director was trying to get
across here.
If they would have had this manend up being arrested at the
end and then maybe even have itend with Detective Park still
having that scene where he'slooking into the camera, but it
more being like him reflectingon like did we get the right guy
?

Remi (01:15:25):
That would actually be really chilling in the end if
they had locked him up and theythought everything was done and
then another murder happened,like what happened in real life,
like what happened in real lifeand if that even minor change
would have been made, that wouldhave moved me from guilty which

(01:15:45):
is what I'm going with tomistrial.

Ashley (01:15:46):
But because it's not, I just think that there's just too
few similarities here to bumpme from anywhere else other than
a guilty verdict.

Remi (01:15:54):
And I must say, my fondness for the film initially
was swaying me a bit in the backof my head.
I was thinking, yeah, thiscould have been a not guilty
verdict.
But no, this film could havenever been a not guilty verdict,
but I'm still going to give ita mistrial.
The broad strokes of the truestory are there and there seems

(01:16:19):
to be subtle hints andreferences to the real events
and the real people.
But, like it says in theverdict voiceover, if liberties
were taken for the sake ofentertainment and I do feel like
that was done in this film,there is comedic aspects, there
is strange, quirky additions tothe story that are unusual, and

(01:16:43):
these changes were made to makeit more interesting, make the
film adaptation more interestingor, aka, for entertainment.
So that is why I am giving thisfilm a mistrial, but barely a
mistrial.
I feel like the story's there,but, man, they did change a lot.
So mistrial barely.

(01:17:04):
I would have given it a guilty,but I'm squeaking this one by
with a mistrial this week.

Ashley (01:17:09):
A mistrial, unlike the two primary perpetrators quote
unquote perpetrators in the reallife story.
So bravo, memories of murder.
You have a split, which I like.
When we disagree, it makes formore interesting conversation.

Remi (01:17:25):
It doesn't happen often.
I think the last time thishappened was Death of Dick Long,
which you guys can listen to.
That episode I'm not going totell you anything about it in
this one, because it iscompletely different subject
matter.

Ashley (01:17:37):
And speaking of completely different subject
matter.
We have a new groundbreakingtype of episode we're doing next
week.
Remy inform the audience.

Remi (01:17:47):
Two weeks from now, we will be tackling Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid, a filmthat, believe it or not, I have
never seen before, and my firstinteraction with it was watching
the trailer which we will beplaying at the end of this
episode, and it is not at allwhat I was expecting.

(01:18:08):
I'm just going to say thatright off the bat.

Ashley (01:18:11):
It is our first Western and after we played the trailer
you were sold.
You're like we are doing this100%.
I can't wait.
And it is starring RobertRedford, and who's the other?

Remi (01:18:22):
Paul Newman.

Ashley (01:18:22):
Paul Newman.
Paul Newman as Butch Cassidyand Robert Redford as a Sundance
Kid.
I don't know his real name yet.

Remi (01:18:29):
Well, we will find out in two weeks, but until then,
everybody, thank you so much forjoining us, and court is
adjourned.
Paul Newman is Butch Cassidyand the Sundance Kid is Robert
Redford.
Catherine Ross is Etta.

Bong Joon Ho (01:18:47):
Place.
Most of this is true, and allof it blazes with action.

Remi (01:18:52):
You've never met a pair like Butch and Sundance.

Guillermo del Toro (01:19:00):
Well, we're back in business, boys and girls
Outlaws with style in a classall their own.
You know, when I was a kid, Ialways thought I was going to
grow up to be a hero.

Verdict (01:19:10):
Don't tell me how to rob a bank.
I know how to rob a bank.

Bong Joon Ho (01:19:14):
And anything you ask of me I'll do, Except one
thing I won't watch you die.
And one girl shared their loveand larceny.